‘Humans could have come from Mars’ in keeping with ground-breaking new idea
The groundbreaking British study tested the strength of a super resilient microbe found in the desert of Chile in order to see if it could have survived the trip from Mars to Earth
Scientists tested a super-strong bacteria to see if it could survive the trip to Earth from Mars (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The lifeforms from which would eventually evolve humans may have originally come from Mars, according to groundbreaking research.
The study, published by academics at the UK’s John Hopkins University, showed how the single-celled microbes that would eventually mutate into all forms of life on earth could have feasibly survived a trip from the Red Planet on an asteroid, something which had long been put forward as a theory but never confirmed.
Known by biology boffins as the lithopanspermia hypothesis, the theory proposes that life forms could be transferred from one planet to another when asteroid crashes displace and carry them across a solar system.
While until recently scientists thought that the relevent microbes when it comes to human life would not survive the journey, by accurately mimicing the precise conditions of the transfer the study showed that it could be done.
The microbe in question, a highly resilient type of bacteria called Deinococcus radiodurans that was recently discovered in the deserts of Chile, saw its endurance tested by placing it between two metal plates and shooting at it with minuscule bullets using a gas gun that fires at speeds of around 300mph.
These projectiles replicate the massive ammount of pressure that the microbe would be under during interplanetary travel, which would essentially be the equivalent of placing an elaphant on the tip of a pencil, but the sturdy Chilean bacterium was able to survive it.
“We expected it to be dead at that first pressure,” said Dr Lily Zhao to the Telegraph, a Nasa fellow at Johns Hopkins who led the groundbreaking study.
“We started shooting it faster and faster. We kept trying to kill it, but it was really hard to kill.”
“We have shown that it is possible for life to survive large-scale impact and ejection. What that means is that life can potentially move between planets.
Maybe we’re Martians”, she added.
Zhao even added that the equipment used in the experiement began to succumb to the pressure before the bacteria, showing its remarkable strength.
While it is not yet been confirmed that Mars does or at least did have populations of microbes, or any life for that matter, it has long been suspected to be a possibility, due to its surface featuring oceans of water much like Earth.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
